On Thursday, September 12, defendants in the Oregon Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the Winchester Water Control District (owners of the condemned and uninsurable Winchester Dam), and their contractors DOWL Engineering, and TerraFirma Foundation Systems, petitioned Judge Jason Thomas to have the lawsuit designated a “complex case.”
In August 2023, the defendants in the lawsuit attempted “repairs” on the 134-year-old Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River north of Roseburg, Oregon, which was condemned by the Oregon Water Resource Department in 1976.
The Winchester Dam provides no hydroelectricity, irrigation or flood control, and its sole function since 1969 has been as a private waterski lake for a few dozen boat-owing residents whose properties surround the dam.
This lawsuit, filed October 6, 2023, in Douglas County, Oregon, by the Oregon Department of Justice, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), and the State, Fish and Wildlife Commission, claims that during the attempted repairs in August 2023, “the failure of the defendants to institute an adequate [fish] salvage program directly resulted in the loss of approximately 550,000 lamprey during the repair project, which exceeded the incidental take limit.”
The lawsuit seeks to recover a $27.5 million judgment for, according to ODFW, the largest fishkill in an Oregon river in 2023. Pacific lamprey are listed as a “sensitive species” by the State of Oregon. Fish counts at Pacific lamprey at the Winchester dam have dwindled from 30,000 half a century ago to fewer than one thousand in recent years.
Under Oregon law, “any party in a case may apply to the presiding judge to have the matter designated as a ‘complex case.’” The criteria used for such a designation may include “the number of parties involved, the complexity of the legal issues, the expected extent and difficulty of discovery, and the anticipated length of trial.”
The petitioners’ motion “expects a trial of this matter to take four to six weeks, which would take significant resources for both the court and all parties.”
If Judge Thomas grants the defendants’ request and designates the lawsuit a “complex case,” it will be assigned to a “specific judge” who will have “full responsibility for the case” and the lawsuit will “not be subject to the time limitation or trial setting procedures,” allowing the defendants to delay the date of the trial.
At 8:30 AM, Tuesday, September 24, 2024, the Oregon Senate Interim Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire will meet at the state capital in Salem. An update on the Winchester Dam is on the agenda. The committee is chaired by Oregon Senator Jeff Golden.
The following individuals have been invited to report to the Oregon Senate Interim Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire:
Shaun Clements, Deputy Director, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Ivan Gall, Director, Oregon Water Resources Department
Rian van den Hooff, Senior Policy and Legislative Analyst, Water Quality,
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
Becky McRae, President, The North Umpqua Foundation
Jim McCarthy, Southern Oregon Program Director, WaterWatch
Also invited to address the committee is Ryan Beckley, president of the Winchester Water Control District, owner of TerraFirma Foundation Systems, the individual in charge of the botched repairs at Winchester Dam last August, which resulted in the permit violations that are the basis of the lawsuit.
The public is invited to attend the September 24 hearing at the state capital. Written questions for the committee may be submitted for the committee. The hearing will be broadcast live, which allows the public to attend virtually.
When the Oregon Senate Interim Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire last discussed the Winchester Dam at their September 27, 2023, meeting, State Senator Floyd Prozanski, a Democrat who spent 18 years as District Four’s Member of Congress in the Oregon House of Representatives, was profuse in his criticisms of the damage caused by the’ August 2023 repairs of the Winchester Dam.
“We now have a fish kill. We have DEQ [Department of Environmental Quality] violations that have been established…” said Prozanski. “I understand you’ve still got the report to put together but I’m hoping that you’re going to give us a date and time … as to when this is going to be there so we can actually hold those accountable who have not done the work they should have done, and actually made the repairs they should have done years ago. I mean, after representing this area for 18 years and having people coming to me, and me trying to be a facilitator with the state agencies, and getting nothing out of it. I’m very concerned with how this is done. … Transparency is one thing; action is another thing.”
Eleven months later, perhaps agency representatives will finally be able to answer Senator Prozanski’s questions.
